Elizabeth's Secret Garden

    Mead garden has much to offer with its butterfly garden, diverse habitats, abundance of birds, wildlife, picnic grounds, and overall welcoming setting. The garden is well kept and offers an ecology that supports many different birds, animals, and plants in the 47.6 acre park. It offers various facilities including an amphitheatre, boardwalk, bike trail, 40 picnic tables, recreation center, environmental center, and restroom buildings. Website:  http://meadgarden.org/   The large pavilion is an eye catcher. It is quite large and full of beautiful exotic plants.   This is one of my favorite pictures that captures an image of the beauty that is within Mead Botanical Garden. It is a small glimpse into a Secret Garden… View Full Album Mead Garden’s Medicinal Plants As part of my Family Herbalist certification, we learned about several plant specimens that hold value in the medicinal plant community. The photos below will take you on a journey through ...

My brother Joshua, sister Andrea, mom, and I all went on an educational experience to a bee farm. Bees R Us is in Winter Garden, FL and participate in the Winter Garden Farmers Market. They have about 75 hives and have hives in four other places. As part of our experience, we walked through an orange grove with hundreds of trees to reach the hives. The three of us dressed in white bee gear, mask and all.  The outfits remind me of the clothing worn during fencing. They were hot in the heat of Florida as you can imagine, but we all felt so professional and protected. The mask was a key part of the bee apparel we wore. The mask makes it difficult for a bee to enter, but if this does occur, step away from the hives and wait for someone to assist you. Before checking out our insect friends, the smoker had to be lit. Bees communicate by pheromones, so the smoker works by covering their scents and thus confusing the bees. Bees can get moody and this is a good thing to keep in mind es...

  My dad and I went  to Haiti April 28 – May 4. It was my first time going there. We stayed at the Eben-Ezer Mission in Gonaives for the duration of the trip. While we were there, I was able to teach the ladies in the orphanage how to create cell phone holders by knitting with plastic grocery bags. The children helped by cutting the bags into strips and tying them together. While in Haiti, I also worked for three days on an agriculture/permaculture project. To see that blog entry go to http://elizabethssecretgarden.blogspot.com/2012/05/agriculturepermaculture-project-at-eben.html     The children and I worked together to make the plastic yarn.       This lady is sewing the cell phone holder together. The small children at the orphanage were full of laughter and joy. We had so much fun building a house out of cardboard. It is amazing what a difference you can make just by being present.   While in Haiti, I went to two different churches...

  Part of my preparation to continue a sustainable project in Haiti, is the study of Herbal Medicine. Herbs can be useful in developing countries when prescription medicines are unattainable. It is my desire to become certified as a Family Herbalist and later a Community Herbalist so I can teach those who are in need of other options for natural healing. The Holistic Living School is a 501c3 nonprofit educational organization with the mission to “Cultivate the sustainable community by empowering individuals through philosophy-in-practice education that promotes holistic living.” This summer, I am an intern at the Florida School of Holistic Living and will be attending a week long intensive course to be certified as a Family Herbalist. This blog entry is on the Roots of Herbalism course which I took as a preparation for the Family Herbalist Certification. Roots of Herbalism class:  http://tinyurl.com/7w5jave The Roots of Herbalism course was May 12 – 13, 2012. Emily Ruff ...

To begin this blog entry, I wanted to share this video containing the different projects and activities my dad and I were part of during our trip to Haiti. I thought it would be a nice introduction by showing you an overview of our trip before displaying our individual projects. My trip to Haiti with my dad, John Mann, was an incredible experience where I was able to share knowledge, but also learn much while spending time with the people of Haiti. Our trip was April 28 – May 4. One of the activities I worked on during our trip was an agriculture project. I worked on the project for 3 days with pastor Josue Jean and some of the men who assist him. They have already established a productive garden, so I was able to share with them sustainable gardening techniques and new ideas they can apply in their existing garden. Recycling is a important tool when applying permaculture techniques. The definition of permaculture is the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be s...